ing, and which have nothing whatever to do with any political matters. I shall, on the same principle, have the Duchatels to dinner in a quiet and unostentatious manner; I saw a good deal of them on the Rhine, and they also gave us a very hospitable reception when we were at Paris.

In Italy the news of the French Revolution had a prodigious effect. Everywhere the aristocratic had to yield to the democratic party. Venice broke away from Austria, and proclaimed a Republic. Milan revolted, and compelled the Austrian troops to commence a retreat which only ceased beyond the Mincio. Charles Albert, King of Sardinia, resolved to embrace the cause of Italian independence, and to bring the regular forces of the Piedmontese monarchy to the aid of insurgent Lombardy. On March 25 his army crossed the Ticino and entered the Austrian territory. On March 31 Lord Palmerston writes to Lord Normanby :

Our attitude with regard to what is passing in the north of Italy is that of passive spectators. Abercromby made no protest, though he urged all the arguments which suggested themselves to him against the advance of the Sardinian troops.

It may be questionable how far Charles Albert was justified by the rules of good neighbourhood in seizing an Austrian province; my own belief is that he could not help doing so, and as Europe is now undergoing great changes, I cannot myself regret that the establishment of a good state in Northern Italy should be one of them. As to your not always getting letters from me by every messenger who passes through Paris, never wonder at that nor think it extraordinary. Wonder rather when I am able to find time to write at all; I am sure you would if you saw the avalanche of despatches from every part of the world which come down upon me daily, and which must be read, and if you witnessed the number of interviews which I cannot avoid giving every day of the week. Every post sends me a lamenting Minister throwing himself and his country upon England for help, which I am obliged to tell him we cannot afford him. But Belgium is a case by itself, and both France and England are bound by treaty engagements in regard to that country, which it is most desirable for the repose of France and England that no events should call into active operation.

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With Russia he wished to be on good terms, as the only State left erect amid the general downfall; although he frankly stated to the Government of the Czar that, in the opinion of Her Majesty's Government, Poland was entitled to a Constitution under the terms of the Treaty of Vienna; so he says to Lord Bloomfield at St. Petersburg :-1

Assure Count Nesselrode that our feelings and sentiments towards Russia are exactly similar to those which he expresses to you towards England. We are at present the only two Powers in Europe (excepting always Belgium) that remain standing upright, and we ought to look with confidence to each other. Of course he must be aware that public feeling in this country runs strong in favour of the Poles; but we, the Government, will never do anything underhand or ungentlemanlike on those matters. I wish we could hope that the Emperor might of his own accord settle the Polish question in some satisfactory

manner.

While all these conflicts were surging in Europe, and threatening to wipe out almost every line of the Treaty of Vienna, the British Foreign Office had, as may be supposed, plenty of work to engage its attention. Its policy at this crisis may be thus summarised :

To maintain peace as long as possible, but to maintain it by exerting, and not by foregoing, English influence. To support the integrity and independence of Belgium so long as the Belgians were themselves willing to uphold it. To favour the development of German unity-whether in the shape of one or two German Powers-strong enough to make head against any attack from France or Russia. To advise Austria not to keep up a bloody struggle for the maintenance of the Lombard kingdom. Lastly, not to interfere in any way with the form of government in France, but not to slacken or part with any means of resistance should the French seek to relieve internal embarrassment by external aggression.

1 To Lord Bloomfield. F. O., April 11, 1848.

England felt also in her home affairs the events in France, for they stirred up the revolutionary spirit, such as it was. The Chartists, with mad Feargus O'Connor at their head, prepared a demonstration for April 10, when they proposed, after meeting on Kennington Common, to march to the House of Commons with a monster petition. On the day named they were quietly informed by the police officers on the ground that they would not be allowed to cross the Thames. The whole affair ludicrously collapsed, although it had created serious alarm in London. Lord Palmerston reports the result as follows to our ambassador at Paris :

F. O.: April 11, 1848. Yesterday was a glorious day, the Waterloo of peace and order. They say there were upwards of one hundred thousand special constables-some put the number at two hundred and fifty thousand; but the streets were swarming with them, and men of all classes and ranks were blended together in defence of law and property. The Chartists made a poor figure, and did not muster more than fifteen thousand men on the Common. Feargus was frightened out of his wits, and was made the happiest man in England at being told that the procession could not pass the bridges. The Chartists have found that the great bulk of the inhabitants of London are against them, and they will probably lie by for the present and watch for some more favourable moment.

Meanwhile, the result of yesterday will produce a good and calming effect all over this and the sister island. The foreigners did not show; but the constables, regular and special, had sworn to make an example of any whiskered and bearded rioters whom they might meet with, and I am convinced would have mashed them to jelly.

Smith O'Brien surpassed himself last night in dulness, bad taste, and treason.

The speech here referred to was on the discussion of the Bill for the more effectual Repression of Treasonable Proceedings,' and was the last occasion on which Smith O'Brien appeared in the House of Commons previous to taking the field! The contemptuous indignation with which he was received by the House

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81

was overwhelming. In the next letter we get a very neat retort of Sir Robert Peel's, which shows him capable of humour when occasion offered.

F. O.: April 18, 1848.

My dear Normanby,- Lamartine is really a wonderful fellow, and is endowed with great qualities. It is much to be desired that he should swim through the breakers and carry his country safe into port. I conclude that he has escaped one danger by the refusal to naturalise Brougham; for it is evident that our ex-Chancellor meant, if he had got himself elected, to have put up for being President of the Republic. It is woful to see a man who is so near being a great man make himself so small.

We have just been sending up to the Lords from the House of Commons our Bill for the Security of the Crown. Peel made a good hit in the debate. Feargus O'Connor alluded to the possible case of Beelzebub being sovereign, and Peel said that in that case Feargus would certainly enjoy the confidence of the Crown. Hume, at the close of the debate, blamed us for not having put down the Convention, which, he said, ought not to be permitted to go on, and which, he contended (though erroneously), comes within the prohibitive provisions of our existing laws.

What we hear from Ireland tallies with what you wrote me a few days ago, that there can be no decided and extensive outbreak till the potato and grain harvest is in, as men must eat to be able to fight. I trust we shall be able to keep them quiet after all.

Leopold, King of the Belgians, was all through his long and useful life one of Lord Palmerston's constant correspondents. His sagacity and liberal views won the respect of the English Minister, who was always ready frankly to interchange ideas with him. Since February, Paris had passed through a series of convulsions, and, at the moment when the following letter was written, the French Assembly, engaged in a struggle with the Socialists, exhibited the strange spectacle of a Legislature elected by universal suffrage deliberating under the protection of cannon pointed against its own

constituents. In Italy the tide had not yet turned in favour of the Austrians, and they were still entrenched in their lines beyond the Mincio. Lord Palmerston foresaw that their success, even if it did come, would be but temporary.

Carlton G.: June 15, 1848.

Sire,-I was much obliged to Your Majesty for the letter which I had the honour of receiving from Your Majesty some little time ago; and I am happy to have the opportunity which is thus afforded me of congratulating Your Majesty upon the continued tranquillity and stability of your kingdom. It would seem as if the storms which have shaken everything else all over the continent of Europe had only served to consolidate more firmly the foundations of Your Majesty's throne. As to France, no man nowadays can venture to prophesy from week to week the turn affairs may take in that unfortunate country. For many years past the persons in authority in France have worked at the superstructure of Monarchy without taking care of the foundation. Education and religion have been neglected, and power has now passed into the hands of a mob ignorant of the principles of government, of morality, and of justice; and it is a most remarkable fact in the history of society that in a nation of thirty-five millions of men, who have now for more than half a century been in a state of political agitation, which, in general, forms and brings out able men, and who have during that time been governed by three dynasties, there is no public political man to whom the country looks up with confidence and respect, on account of his statesmanlike qualities and personal character combined; and there is no prince whom any large portion of the nation would make any considerable effort to place as sovereign on the throne. The principle of equality seems to have been fully carried out in one respect, and that is that all public men are equally without respect, and all candidates for royalty equally without following.

As to poor Austria, every person who attaches value to the maintenance of a balance of power in Europe must lament her present helpless condition; and every man gifted with ever so little foresight must have seen, for a long time past, that feebleness and decay were the inevitable consequences of Prince Metternich's system of government; though certainly no one could have expected that the rottenness within would so soon and so completely have shown itself without. Lord Bacon says